Review on recent progress in the study of the $N^*(920)$ subthreshold singularity and the $\sigma/f_0(500)$ meson

Abstract

We summarize recent results on studies of $\pi\pi$ and $\pi N$ scatterings. They include the finding of a negative-parity nucleon pole with a mass lower than the nucleon mass, and the pole trajectory of $f_0(500)$ as the pion mass varies. The results are obtained from model-independent dispersion analyses. We also study the thermal properties of $f_0(500)$ based on the $O(N)$ $\sigma$ model and $N/D$ method.